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Designer Annie Brahler on Decorating a Landmark Victorian

We chat with designer and Euro Trash owner Annie Brahler, who shares how she used gold accents, restored antiques, and large mirrors when decorating her Jacksonville, Illinois home. See all the photos of the Victorian in Illinois.

DOUGLAS BRENNER: The name of your company, Euro Trash, must raise a few eyebrows. Of course, you mean 'trash' as in Dumpster-diving at grand hotels.

ANNIE BRAHLER: It's kind of tongue-in-cheek, because these are not necessarily pedigreed antiques. Our niche as importers and designers came accidentally — I just loved shapes and textures and didn't care about fancy-pants provenance. I didn't want to come off as pretentious or get people's expectations up.

Where are your favorite hunting grounds in Europe?

People ask, 'Don't you go to Italy?' Well, I like to eat there. But for furniture and things, my gut takes me to France, Holland, and Belgium.

What makes old-world antiques feel at home in your American house?

My parents are Dutch, and they used their china, their silver, every day. I think it's a largely American mentality to save 'best' things for later, to protect them so much that you don't enjoy them. They didn't do that in Holland. If something happened to an old platter, that simply added to its story, because it happened in your life. It became a memory instead of a scar. Authenticity rules! I have an aversion to anything reproduction. That does not, for the love of Pete, mean I think something has to be a rare antique. It could be a tin can with rust on it--that's real patina.

Did something about your house call out for a palette of white and gold?

The house was built as an Italianate Victorian in 1868 and was renovated in the Beaux-Arts style in 1901. This architecture gave me the green light, I guess, to go a little bit crazy with gilt. What is Beaux-Arts but the abhorrence of undecorated surfaces, right? But I wanted it to have some modernity, because I've got children and dogs and a life. In the summertime I do white slipcovers, and I have others for winter. And because it's a neutral color scheme, I can change it up often. But it is kind of nice for a designer to come home to a clean palette.

Have you ever worried that so many gold accents might feel too ritzy?

Once you put it in the mix, as long as you balance things, it becomes livable. Just make sure it's real gold leaf, not gold paint. If it's real gilding, it's not going to feel put on and contrived.

Any tips on making white work?

I have so many shades of white in these rooms it's insane. But when you're trying to get that fresh, bright look, it's so important to juxtapose it with some dark color. Mocha brown is everywhere.

And so are chandeliers.

Every-where. Overdoing it with one thing is kind of not overdoing it, because it becomes a constant. The chandeliers, the crystal, are a constant. Because I have minimal color, they work. I couldn't have this many chandeliers if I had, like, hot pink going around the house.

The dining room chandelier is quite low. What's your rule of thumb?

I usually hang them 28 inches from the tabletop, because I really want that sparkle to be a part of the dining experience — not that it's going to cut off somebody's sight line, but it's really going to become part of the table setting rather than this light fixture floating above. I love, love, love that.

Any tricks with mirrors?

People are also afraid of the big mirror. They think, 'So 1980s...' But there's no reason to be scared. It's great — you double the size of the space. You want two chandeliers in a room instead of one? Put up a mirror.

Are your understated curtains a foil to these special effects?

They're made out of great fabrics, but they are very utilitarian. Every piece of furniture here, every fixture, including the chandeliers, has a practical, everyday purpose. The draperies are lined in flannel, so those suckers keep out the drafts. And they're a lot cheaper than valances and jabots that don't do anything.

Why did you put a daybed in front of the parlor fireplace, instead of the usual sofa or armchairs?

Since it's near the front door, I didn't want people coming in to furniture that says, 'I'm turning my back on you.' At least once a week my husband's at one end, I'm at the other, and the dogs plop down with us.

Do you ever feel like a mad scientist, taking old furniture parts and mashing them up?

My carpenter and I are fearless at figuring out how to make something useful and beautiful that looks the part — as long as it's a piece of salvage, not some precious antique. We're always making marriages. Parts of eight different cabinets went into the dressing-room island.

That was an 18th-century daybed we had in the warehouse forever. It's so tall it walled in a mini-room. And then it came to me: Let's marry the ends!

Does your room reflect your husband's taste, too?

God, no! But he always says, 'It's so damned comfortable, I don't care that I feel like the queen of Europe when I wake up.'

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